Another year, another twelve months spent more on screens than we’d care to admit. We had another record year of visits to our blog to make the most of our advice, help, ideas and round-ups of the latest facts, research and statistics on living healthily with tech. Here, at the end of this second year of the pandemic, were our top digital detox articles in 2021:
As we emerged from the last full lockdown in the UK in July this year, we wanted to review how our tech habits had changed in the pandemic, and what impacts these changes have had on our overall wellbeing. This article reviewed some of the newest research.
We know how difficult digital detoxes can be, with many struggling to make it through the first few hours, let alone the days and months which might allow healthier habits to form. We put together some questions to help you digital detox effectively and maintain your habits long term, beyond 2021.
“Is it addiction, or am I just a bit overly-connected to my phone?” is one of the questions we get asked the most. So we did a deep-dive into what really constitutes ‘addiction’. We looked at how you could spot the symptoms in yourself and others and how to take the next steps in dealing with it.
As we emerged into 2021 the question on everyone’s lips was how to avoid being glued to our phones and screens as much as we were throughout 2021. Ofcom found that during the first UK Covid lockdown, Brits spent 40% of their time watching TV and online video, and that’s before they were working online, or browsing social media. Our first post of 2021 was full of tips to help you revamp your screen use and get the most out of the new year.
One of the biggest challenges we face when we start a digital detox, or make the resolution to log off, is what to do instead. We know from our years of experience that when our hands are busy it makes it just that little bit harder to pick up our phones. This article suggested five things you can do to help you stay offline.
Always one of our most popular digital detox articles of the year (look out for the 2022 one in January 2022), this one is where we set down our resolutions for the year. We always hope it helps you to set your own challenges too.
Unsurprisingly, after the last couple of years digital burnout was a hot topic this year. It was one of the most requested subjects for our corporate and school talks in 2021 and frequently requested as a topic for our digital detox articles too. This article focused on how to deal with burnout from screens, phones and video calls if you felt you might be suffering.
Also ranked very highly was…
We looked further at the new research on how being glued to screens for the past few years was impacting us all. The fact that two digital detox articles in our top five in 2021 were on the subject of digital burnout told us all we needed to know about how you were all feeling…
Very few of you want to give up social media completely, but you do want to know what ‘healthy’ use looks like. In our second most popular article in 2021, we shared the latest research on how an active use is better for us than passive scrolling.
Which brought us to…
Our No.1 post this year was focused on your worries on how social media might be impacting your most important relationships. The fact that it was the most popular post told us just how worried you all are about it. With practical and realistic suggestions, we really hope this one helped.
2021 felt a tiny bit like Groundhog Day at Time To Log Off Towers. At the end of 2020 we hoped that we’d be off screens and back off out into the real world. It hasn’t happened in quite the way we all thought (yet). But, the silver lining for us was that you kept coming back to our site and reading our digital detox articles in another record-breaking year. We hope they all helped in some way. Do let us know!
For more ideas, suggestions and help on living healthily with the digital world, pick up a copy of our new book which also came out in 2021.
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